[Update 6/1/25]: Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist and current Pearl Jam touring musician Josh Klinghoffer accepted a no-jail-time plea deal on Wednesday in a vehicular manslaughter case. The charges stem from an accident last March when Klinghoffer, 45, failed to yield while driving and accidentally struck and killed a pedestrian in California.
Klinghoffer appeared in an Alhambra, CA courtroom on Wednesday and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, per Rolling Stone. Los Angeles County Judge Rosa Fregoso sentenced the musician to one year of informal probation, 60 days of community labor, and required him to complete a driver safety class and pay restitution at a later date.
On March 18th, 2024, Klinghoffer drove his black 2022 GMC Yukon through an intersection and fatally struck pedestrian Israel Sanchez, 47, who died at a hospital later that day from blunt force trauma. Charges were filed in August, and since the incident, Sanchez’s family has alleged that Klinghoffer was on his cell phone at the time of the accident. Though no distracted driving charges were included in Wednesday’s plea, a prosecutor did read a statement warning against distracted driving after Klinghoffer accepted the deal.
“If you continue to drive while distracted, and as a result of your driving someone is killed, you can be charged with murder,” the prosecutor said. Klinghoffer said he understood.
At the hearing, Israel’s only daughter Ashley Sanchez read a victim statement, breaking down in tears as she said, “My father was an extraordinary grandfather to my [children]. His absence has left an irreversible void in our lives.” Addressing Klinghoffer directly, she said his actions have caused her “deep and lasting trauma,” calling the death of her father an “avoidable loss that has shaken my family.”
Sanchez’s family has an ongoing wrongful death and negligence civil case against Klinghoffer, alleging he was on his cell phone and driving a car without plates when the fatal accident occurred. The suit claims that Klinghoffer “made no braking or slowing motion until after he fatally struck.” A judge has twice denied the family’s attempts to seek punitive damages in that case, ruling that the claims against Klinghoffer did not rise to the level of “willful and conscious disregard” for the safety of others.
The civil case is set to reconvene on July 1st.
[9/26/24]: Pearl Jam touring musician and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer has pleaded “not guilty” to a charge of vehicular manslaughter for hitting a pedestrian with his car. The incident occurred on March 18th in Alhambra, CA outside L.A. when Klinghoffer struck 47-year-old pedestrian Israel Sanchez, who later died from blunt force trauma.
Klinghoffer was arraigned on Thursday in a California court where he was charged with vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, a misdemeanor. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee was not in the courtroom and entered the plea through his criminal attorney Blair Berk, per Rolling Stone. This story first broke in July when Sanchez’s family sued Klinghoffer for wrongful death, alleging the musician was on his phone when he hit Israel in the crosswalk with his GMC Yukon. Klinghoffer’s attorney in the civil case Andrew Brettler denied those allegations, calling what happened “a tragic accident.”
“After Josh struck this pedestrian in the intersection, he immediately pulled over, stopped the car, called 911 and waited until police and the ambulance arrived,” Brettler—who has represented Prince Andrew, Danny Masterson, and Armie Hammer, to name a few—told TMZ. “Obviously, he’s cooperating with the police throughout the traffic investigation. This was purely a tragic accident.”
Following the hearing on Thursday, the lawyer for Sanchez’s family, Grayson Yoder, remained adamant in his allegations that Klinghoffer was distracted behind the wheel. Yoder claims that Klinghoffer passed by a business “seconds” before the crash and “appears to be holding a phone.”
“If they have exculpatory evidence, it’s never been presented to us,” Yoder told Rolling Stone. “All I can see is what I see on the video. If he says he’s not on his phone, fine. But it’s the middle of the day, he’s coming into an intersection and there are no brake lights on his vehicle, none, not until a man is hit in the crosswalk. I’m skeptical of exculpatory evidence, and I can’t speak to the DA and their charges, but at the end of the day, in broad daylight, he had many, many opportunities for this not to have happened. There’s no other word for it besides negligence. We allege that it’s gross negligence.”
The civil case—in which Sanchez’s family is seeking damages for medical costs and pain and suffering—has a hearing on October 18th. The criminal case will return to court on October 31st. Scroll down for further details on the incident.
[7/10/24]: Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer was sued on Wednesday for wrongful death for allegedly running over and killing a pedestrian outside Los Angeles in Alhambra, CA. The incident occurred on March 18th and resulted in the death of 47-year-old Israel Sanchez.
The lawsuit obtained by TMZ alleges that Klinghoffer—who played with the Chili Peppers from 2009 to 2019—was driving a black GMC Yukon that made a left turn and struck Sanchez as he was using the crosswalk. An attorney for Sanchez’s family alleges that he was dragged across the asphalt and suffered blunt force trauma to his head, ultimately causing his death several hours later. TMZ has obtained a traffic surveillance video of the incident, which shows the SUV going through the crosswalk as Sanchez crossed the street. Following the collision, the car then pulls over to the side of the road where Klinghoffer’s attorney says the guitarist waited for police to arrive. The video is blurry and does not provide any identifying features of the driver.
“It was a tragic accident,” Josh Klinghoffer’s attorney Andrew Brettler told TMZ. “After Josh struck this pedestrian in the intersection, he immediately pulled over, stopped the car, called 911 and waited until police and the ambulance arrived. Obviously, he’s cooperating with the police throughout the traffic investigation. This was purely a tragic accident.”
The attorney for Sanchez’s family has also accused Klinghoffer of distracted driving and being on his cell phone at the time of the accident. Klinghoffer is being sued for negligence and wrongful death, and the family will seek damages. Police have made no arrests as of this publication.
“Mr. Klinghoffer should be arrested and prosecuted for homicide,” attorney Nick Rowley said in a statement. “We have a video of him on his cell phone at the time he hit and killed Israel Sanchez, a loving father, in a crosswalk. Israel Sanchez was on his way to the grocery store to make soup for his family and never came home. He did everything right, looking for oncoming traffic and abiding by pedestrian signage, but tragically Mr. Klinghoffer, in a rush and on his phone, hit him fatally from behind with a large SUV. The loss and grief that the Sanchez family now faces is immense. We will not stop until there is accountability and justice for Mr. Sanchez and his family.”
Klinghoffer joined the Chili Peppers in 2009 following the second of two exoduses by guitarist John Frusciante. Josh was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with the band in 2012 at age 32, making him the youngest musician ever inducted. Since Frusciante rejoined the band in 2019, Klinghoffer has linked up with Pearl Jam as the band’s touring multi-instrumentalist. The band is currently on tour in Europe.